A separate Education Section was organized in 1935, under the 
supervision of Miss Mabel Godwin, who was also appointed Secre- 
tary to the Lecture Committee. Conducted tours for school classes 
and visiting groups had been provided for some years, but after the 
Second World War they were organized as a regular activity by 
Miss Godwin, assisted by Miss Margaret Watson, Miss Elizabeth 
Edwards, and later by Miss V. M. Humphreys. At the present time 
approximately one hundred organized groups are conducted annually 
through the exhibition halls. 
An arrangement was made in 1938 with the Public School 
Board of Ottawa to permit the use of Museum facilities for Grade 7 
classes each Thursday afternoon during the school year. Talks, using 
Museum exhibits as illustrations, are given to the classes by their 
own teachers, on natural history or primitive people, subjects related 
to the curriculum. Motion pictures are then shown on related 
topics. The Museum provides the lecture haU and the services of a 
projectionist, and often lends the motion pictures. Even during the 
Second World War, when some of the exhibition space was taken 
over for offices, the Thursday afternoon classes were continued. An 
effort is being made to provide similar services for the Separate 
Schools of the Ottawa area. 
The loan of natural history specimens for use in school classes 
was begun by Clyde Patch at an early date. Later the loan collection 
was expanded by the addition of archaeological specimens and 
miniature habitat groups. Although the borrowers have been mostly 
the classes in Ottawa schools, loans have been sent to classes and 
teachers’ conventions as far away as Saskatchewan. 
The Macoun Field Club, a junior naturalist group, was organ- 
ized by W. K. W. Baldwin in 1948 as a co-operative project of the 
National Museum and the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club. Members 
are recruited from local schools, the minimum age being about 10 
years. Field excursions are made during suitable times of the year, 
and indoor programmes are held in the winter in a special room 
provided by the Museum (Fig. 23). Members work on their collec- 
tions, scrapbooks, and notebooks, and give verbal reports on then- 
observations or hear talks by older naturalists. Following Mr. 
Baldwin, E. L. Bousfield, J. S. Bleakney, and H. J. Scoggan have 
assumed the successive leadership of the Macoun Club. At least three 
“alumni” of the Macoun Club are now professional biologists, one of 
them having joined the Museum staff as Herpetologist. 
35 
